


Girl

by atria



Series: Tezuka vs. Puberty [1]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 18:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16023728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atria/pseuds/atria
Summary: But Kikumaru’s looking straight at him now, his face as shrewd and eager as a child’s. “Is Oishi like that for you, too?”-In which Oishi gets a girlfriend, Eiji freaks out, and Tezuka tries to be captainly about it while mulling over Echizen. All pairings aren't explicit at all, but also the characters range from ages 12 to 14.





	Girl

After practice, Tezuka lingers. He pays for a can of peach-flavoured Calpis at the vending machine and holds it out to Kikumaru, who’s sprawled flat on his back before the lockers.

“My favourite.” Kikumaru blinks up at him.

Tezuka nods shortly. This is a fact he picked up while ignoring what was actually coming out of Kikumaru’s mouth on many a team occasion. Kikumaru shrugs and tips his head back to drink, his long supple throat clicking once, twice to accept the liquid. He’s rarely so silent and so still. Tezuka sits gingerly, cranes his neck to stare up at the spider-webbed beams of the roof where the freshmen on cleaning duty have never managed to reach. One of the quirks of a system based in seniority.

Somewhere in the room, a tap is dripping.

Kikumaru speaks first. “Guess Oishi must have rubbed off on you, huh.”

Tezuka blinks at the nonsequitur. “This is the sort of thing Oishi does,” Kikumaru supplies. “Sits and listens to you. Buys you sweets. I guess I just got too used to thinking of it as something he did for Eiji, but Oishi’s too good to keep it for one person.”

Tezuka lets him talk, unsure of what to say. Even people he’s known for years can surprise him when it comes to relationships. His mother would say it’s a sign he is an only child – both sharing and competing for affection are mysterious to him.

But Kikumaru’s looking straight at him now, his face as shrewd and eager as a child’s. “Is Oishi like that for you, too?”

Tezuka surprises himself by saying the first thing that comes to mind. “No,” he answers honestly. “I don’t think we’d get much done if he sat around waiting for me to talk about how I felt.”

Kikumaru laughs with his whole body, the way he always laughs. “Buchou, buchou, what would we do without you?” But in a minute he’s quiet again and drinking meditatively from the juice bottle, his finger worrying the plastic label.

Tezuka glances down at him. Kikumaru’s legs are arched like a bridge, and sugar subdues his sulky mouth. He looks like Echizen, Tezuka thinks, though maybe he means _feel_ more than _look_. His heart inexplicably clenches.

A moment later Kikumaru has tossed the bottle and sprung up like a cat, one hand out to hoist Tezuka up. “Nya, it’s late. Thanks for the drink. Also, ouch, did you grow again?”

Tezuka lets himself be moved, lifts his eyebrow to say, “Did you shrink?”

At this point, they’re the last to leave the school. Kikumaru slings an arm around him in an awkward half-hug, still chortling quietly. The crook of his elbow just brushes Tezuka’s shoulder blade and he’s leaning more on Tezuka than the other way round. Tezuka doesn't really mind. He's reminded of freshman year, when Kikumaru had latched onto him first of all. It didn't last; Tezuka had thought him vain, and was generally allergic to fun besides. Then after they’d all settled in and proved themselves a satisfactory amount, Kikumaru tended to get more worked up about Tezuka’s talent than he was himself.

It’s a careless sort of friendship, the kind Tezuka doesn’t understand how to reciprocate, let alone repay. He thought he knew a long time ago that being captain wasn’t about winning, or being the best, or even about tennis at all. He never pretended to know what exactly it was. But there's something Kikumaru feels now and something Tezuka can't quite find the words to say, and it lingers with him from the clubroom to the train station to his own bed that night, like a shot he can't return.


End file.
